Tumblr To Police Thinspo and Other 'Self Harm' Blogs

Tumblr released a new content policy yesterday, and it's getting a lot of attention, not all of it positive. According to Tumblr's staff blog, they're going to "prohibit" blogs they deem inappropriate. This will include:
These typically take the form of blogs that glorify or promote anorexia, bulimia, and other eating disorders; self-mutilation; or suicide. These are messages and points of view that we strongly oppose, and don’t want to be hosting.
So what does this mean for Tumblrs that promote the above content?

Tumblr released a new content policy yesterday, and it's getting a lot of attention, not all of it positive. According to Tumblr's staff blog, they're going to "prohibit" blogs they deem inappropriate. This will include:
These typically take the form of blogs that glorify or promote anorexia, bulimia, and other eating disorders; self-mutilation; or suicide. These are messages and points of view that we strongly oppose, and don’t want to be hosting.
So what does this mean for Tumblrs that promote the above content?

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Photo: Vogue Italia

Tumblr released a new content policy yesterday, and it's getting a lot of attention, not all of it positive. According to Tumblr's staff blog, they're going to "prohibit" blogs they deem inappropriate. This will include:

These typically take the form of blogs that glorify or promote anorexia, bulimia, and other eating disorders; self-mutilation; or suicide. These are messages and points of view that we strongly oppose, and don’t want to be hosting.

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So what does this mean for Tumblrs that promote the above content? First of all, after a grace period, Tumblr is going to actively prohibit content "that urges or encourages readers to cut or mutilate themselves; embrace anorexia, bulimia, or other eating disorders; or commit suicide rather than, e.g., seek counseling or treatment for depression or other disorders." Tumblr is also going to start posting public service announcement for certain flagged search words like "thinspo" and "purging."

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Is this going to be difficult for Tumblr to police? One thinspo blogger who shall remain nameless posted this in response to the ban:

Put up a cautionary message in your blog and it will be fine, it’s like porn sites saying they might not be okay for people under 18; they still know randy 13yr old boys start fapping away to the big bootie bitches. They know that if they do this we are just going to find another porn site to start fapping our eating disorders at.

Which leads us to the next point--if Tumblr starts to actively ban this sort of content, readers/posters will find somewhere else to go. And right now that somewhere seems to be Pinterest. The site is hot right now, and Jezebel pointed out that a lot of this content is popping up on the pinning site. We went to check it out at Pinterest, and a search of the word "thinspo" brought up a neverending stream of boards. What we noted, though, is that a lot of images being pinned on Pinterest are coming from Tumblr. So if Tumblr figures out a way to enforce its new (still rather vague) policies, perhaps that will dry up a bit of the traffic to Pinterest.

Regardless, it's an interesting turn of events. What are your thoughts on Tumblr policing this type of content?

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Facebook, Tumblr and Pinterest have all banned so-called "thinspirational" images--but has it really helped? That's the question many news outlets, including New York Daily News, Jezebel, and Mashable are asking--and with good reason.
But while the question may be on everybody's lips, the answers are far from forthcoming. "I think its too soon to tell [if the banning of thinspo images will have a large impact on the pro-ana community]," Lynn S. Grefe, MA, President and CEO of the National Eating Disorders Association, told me over the phone.
While Mashable claims Pinterest has done "little-to-nothing to edit out the pro-anorexia content," siting the fact that hundreds of images still come up when you search a tag like "thinspo," it's worth remembering that Pinterest's new terms of use only went into effect on April 6, and that successfully policing the images is going to be a slow process. Officially banning the content, regardless of how immediately effective that new policy is, is certainly the first step.
"I really have to applaud [Pinterest and Tumblr] for working with us and for making the effort," Grefe said. "I think it's huge that they did it. It needed to be done but a lot more needs to be done."

Is Tumblr the new fashion frontier in social marketing and influence?
Approximately 180 of the top 1,000 Tumblr blogs are fashion related, Tumblr founder and CEO David Karp told Mashable. What's more, fashion-related Tumblr posts are reportedly reblogged on a much greater scale than general Tumblr posts and are therefore much more likely to go viral.
So it follows that Tumblr has a vested interest in cultivating their fashion-following usership.
We recently broke news that the image-heavy social media platform had hired a fashion director, Rich Tong, and would be sending 20 of its bloggers to New York fashion week. Now, more and more fashion brands are increasing their reach by joining Tumblr.

Back in November, we reported that Rich Tong was out as Tumblr's fashion director following some controversy over his reportedly pitching sponsorship proposals that were seriously overpriced.
In to take his place is seasoned fashion journo Valentine Uhovski, who has just been named "Fashion Evangelist" at Tumblr (seriously, that's his official title).
We caught up with Uhovski to chat about how he landed the new gig, what he plans to change, and how Tumblr is dealing with that whole thinspo problem.

Rich Tong, the fashion director at Tumblr, just posted some exciting news for Tumblr users, especially those of you who specialize in beauty. It sounds like they’re sending a troop of bloggers to New York Fashion Week again to cover the spring shows this September, but they’re adding a focus on beauty and accessories.
This is fantastic news for beauty Tumblrs, of which there are many amazing ones. Here’s what Rich posted: